ROYAL SIGNALS AT ARBORFIELD.

Contributed by: Trevor STUBBERFIELD (52A)

There is an old saying, “He who scratches the surface too deeply ends up at the bottom of a deep pit, staring at blank walls”. Or something like that. Would that I had listened to it.

On my visit to St. James Church, Finchampstead, Berkshire, to photograph the graves of three young Apprentice Tradesmen, I came away slightly puzzled. Two buried in 1940 had the RAOC badge on their Headstones, as expected. The third, 2547580 David Sutherland buried in 1943, had the badge of the Royal Signals which was somewhat of a surprise as that doesn’t seem to feature much in our Arborfield history. General Service Corps would have been a more likely badge at that time.

Update 5th November 2015. Link Added.

See ‘AAS Memorials’ page.

I started to make a few enquiries, first with the Royal Signals Museum and then with some of our Senior Soldiers who were there through that period. The first tip came from the late Jim Morgan 43A who thought that David would have been a Catterick apprentice, the home of the Royal Signals, and was buried at Finchampstead because he was a local lad. The second option was discarded as he came from Slateford, near Edinburgh. The first option begged the question, what was he doing at Arborfield?

Because of the similarity with my brother’s number, checks were made with Beachley Old Boys on the recorded service number, but it was not one of theirs. Keith Evans 45A and Assistant Secretary of the AOBA put me in touch with George Wooley 43A who he thought might be able to help. George in turn pointed me towards Fred Wells 44A and the lights started to brighten. Fred started as a Royal Signals Apprentice at Catterick in October 1943, 43C if that had been Arborfield. The first chapter of Fred’s autobiography can be read on site from HERE. Age became a factor in why Fred started at Catterick instead of joining his brother at Arborfield. The joining age for some R Sigs trades was thirteen years and six months, or thirteen years and nine months for others, well below the age for signing up for Arborfield. This factor is contained in a Recruiting Pamphlet 1937 which is on site and can be read from HERE. There is a wide divergence of ages for boy recruits, depending on what trade is selected. Arborfield is not in the pamphlet because it didn’t come on stream until 1939. David died at the age of sixteen so most likely would have joined up in the 1941 to 42 period. This was at a time when the method of issuing service numbers changed completely with new recruits signing on as members of the GSC. The following information is taken from the web site of North East Medals…..

Army Numbers 1920 – 1942

In 1920 the old method of allocating a ‘Regimental Number’ was scrapped for new recruits and the following numbering system of ‘Army Number’ was adopted as per Army Order 338. In 1942 the ‘General Service Corps’ were formed for the initial training of all new recruits. From then on the new recruits were allocated a number in a series beginning 14,000,000. In 1950 this system changed again to a series beginning 2,200,000.

The 1920 -1942 series below can be most useful for identifying previous service with another unit, since a number block was allocated for each Regiment / Corps. (i.e. if you have a medal named with a number and regiment that do not match as per the list below.)

Army Order 338 (1920)

ARMY NUMBERS ALLOTTED TO Regiments, CORPS ETC.*

Regiment, Corps etc. Number Block From To

Royal Corps of Signals 2,303,001 2,604,000

When Fred transferred to Arborfield he kept the same service number 25489** which is in line with general thinking. However he was surprised that it dovetailed into the series issued to those who started at Arborfield. And so the subject of numbers led to me being sidetracked. His number falls within the batch issued to the Royal Signals, as does that of David Sutherland. However, this batch was also issued to army apprentices, irrespective of the corps they would eventually join. My brother with 25484** left Chepstow ATS (43A) to join the Royal Artillery.

The number information above carried an extra section specific to apprentices….

A general footnote to the1940 King's Regulations, Army Number Appendix reads:-

"Apprentice tradesmen enlisted for general service instead of for a particular corps, are allotted local numbers by the commandant of the school at which they are undergoing training. Those enlisted for service in a particular corps are allotted army numbers."

This did nothing to clarify the numbers situation regarding Arborfield or R Sigs lads.

As for the grave of David Sutherland bearing the badge of the Royal Signals I can only speculate that he joined the Royal Signals in Catterick at an age which was too young for Arborfield. I hope that the R. Sigs museum can come up with a date of enlistment for David. When he qualified to transfer, as he was already a member of the R Sigs, he remained a member of that corps because at the time of his transfer, new recruits were not yet joining the General Service Corps. As for Fred Wells, he did transfer to the GSC on his arrival at Arborfield. All a matter of timing it would seem.

The task now is to find a photo of that era which clearly shows the Royal Signals badge was present at Arborfield.

If anybody has a long handled spade and would like to join me at the bottom of the pit to continue digging, or preferably somebody who has a ladder to help me come back up into the daylight, please send your thoughts to

THE EDITOR.

To be continued as and when new information is discovered.

Update 1st August 2011.

Information from the Royal Signals museum provided by Lt Col (Retd) Mike Butler, volunteer researcher at the museum and an apprentice at Catterick Feb 45 – Aug 48.

‘2547580 AT David Wright Sutherland died of appendicitis on the 14 May 1943 at Battle Hospital Reading. He was stationed at A T School Arborfield at the time. He was in the Royal Corps of Signals. The casualty record is No. 59273 and the original is held here’.

In further talks with Mike Butler it was noted that although the museum has the casualty record for David, it has no record of him joining the Royal Signals….

‘Thank you for your reply. Sutherland had a pencil notation on his Casualty Card that mentioned GSC Arborfield. We have no record of him on our lists – but we do have record of Wells D, enlisted Oct 1943.’

And so the speculation alters. It is acknowledged that he was a Royal Signals apprentice even though there is no record of him enlisting with them. He was at Arborfield when he died, and that fact is in the Royal Signals record. His casualty record has GSC pencilled in. The thinking now is that David enlisted as a Royal Signals apprentice at Arborfield. His age at the time of his death, 16, points to him signing on in 1942. He died without transferring to the GSC which would have been the dominant corps at that time at Arborfield. The pencilled reference to the GSC on his casualty record may be because it was assumed that, being at Arborfield, that would have been his corps. His service number tallies with him joining in 1942. The task now is to find the relevant intake which had 25475 as the opening sequence. So far there is no confirmation from the Arborfield record cards.

Watch this space.

Update 1st December 2011.

Browsing through some back copies of OBAN I came across the following article with some relevant information…………

OBAN Issue 22 Spring 2001

Author: Charles Pepper 43B

‘In response to Fred Wells 44A query as to my service in the Royal Signals, I am very sorry to have to report that I only became aware of any connection with that Corps on my discharge and reading my Record of Service book. It must be admitted that I was surprised to see the reference to the Signals. There was no reference at any time to being in any Corps.

When my intake finished training we were posted to 1 PTW at Maidstone for intensive infantry training and on its completion were separated into the various Corps and regiments in which we were going to serve. I entered the RASC as a Vehicle Mechanic, assuming the letter T in front of my regimental number and there I remained until Phase 2, whence we all transferred to REME.

One can only imagine that my intake arrived at a time when Phase 1 was being considered and a reorganisation of regimental numbers was under way.

Sorry to disappoint – just one of those military curiosities that occasionally occur’.

Evidently the case of A/T David Wright Sutherland and his links to the Royal Signals was not an isolated case.

First Published: 15th July 2011.

Latest Update: 5th November 2015.

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